The Entrust Federal Credit Union is headquartered on Dabney Road. (Michael Schwartz)
The trend of bank and credit union consolidation once again has popped up in the local market, as a deal is in the works to make a local financial institution the East Coast hub for one of its larger West Coast peers.
Richmond-based Entrust Financial Credit Union, which is headquartered on Dabney Road and offers membership to churches and Christian organizations in the area, is in the process of merging with Christian Community Credit Union from California.
Dave Estridge, interim president and CEO of Christian Community CU, confirmed the deal, which he said is pending and likely won’t be finalized until early next year.
“It’s two faith-based credit unions wanting to join together for a more sustainable size,” he said, “so we can serve our constituency for more years to come.”
The marriage would join Christian Community’s $650 million in assets with Entrust’s $77 million, and add Entrust’s 10,000 members for a combined 40,000 members, Estridge said.
The deal has been in the making for some time, and originally was discussed by former CEOs of both credit unions who have since left, Estridge said.
“It was just kind of a dream of theirs. I guess it’s been percolating for years,” he said.
Those talks got more serious in the last year and Estridge and Entrust CEO Lisa Lambrecht expect to take it to the finish line.
Lambrecht did not return messages seeking comment about the deal. She’ll serve as the East Coast head of the credit union following the merger, Estridge said.
The Entrust name will be retired in Richmond in favor of the Christian Community brand. Approval for the deal still is needed from Entrust members and Virginia state regulators.
“The name will change but the staff back there will become our East Coast presence,” Estridge said.
The deal continues a streak of expansion for both sides. Entrust in 2014 won permission from its regulator for a community charter, allowing it to market itself to Christian organizations in the entire region. It previously had to make separate regulatory applications each time it added a church or Christian group into its fold.
Christian Community has made a habit of smaller mergers in the past, with this being its largest to date.
“This would be the largest merger, but we’ve done six or seven others over the last 20 years or so,” Estridge said.
Christian Community has been in business for 60 years, Estridge said, with two branches near Los Angeles. It has the ability to offer membership to Christian groups nationwide, he said, and primarily serves Protestant churches and organizations.
“We have hundreds of members in Virginia already,” Estridge said.
Entrust was chartered in 1971 and has its lone office at 1801 Dabney Road, just west of Scott’s Addition. It primarily serves Southern Baptist churches and their missionaries all over the world, Estridge said.
Both tap into shared branch networks that allow members to use branches of other credit unions around the country. That coupled with the prevalence of online banking helped fuel the deal, despite the distance between the two sides.
The Entrust Federal Credit Union is headquartered on Dabney Road. (Michael Schwartz)
The trend of bank and credit union consolidation once again has popped up in the local market, as a deal is in the works to make a local financial institution the East Coast hub for one of its larger West Coast peers.
Richmond-based Entrust Financial Credit Union, which is headquartered on Dabney Road and offers membership to churches and Christian organizations in the area, is in the process of merging with Christian Community Credit Union from California.
Dave Estridge, interim president and CEO of Christian Community CU, confirmed the deal, which he said is pending and likely won’t be finalized until early next year.
“It’s two faith-based credit unions wanting to join together for a more sustainable size,” he said, “so we can serve our constituency for more years to come.”
The marriage would join Christian Community’s $650 million in assets with Entrust’s $77 million, and add Entrust’s 10,000 members for a combined 40,000 members, Estridge said.
The deal has been in the making for some time, and originally was discussed by former CEOs of both credit unions who have since left, Estridge said.
“It was just kind of a dream of theirs. I guess it’s been percolating for years,” he said.
Those talks got more serious in the last year and Estridge and Entrust CEO Lisa Lambrecht expect to take it to the finish line.
Lambrecht did not return messages seeking comment about the deal. She’ll serve as the East Coast head of the credit union following the merger, Estridge said.
The Entrust name will be retired in Richmond in favor of the Christian Community brand. Approval for the deal still is needed from Entrust members and Virginia state regulators.
“The name will change but the staff back there will become our East Coast presence,” Estridge said.
The deal continues a streak of expansion for both sides. Entrust in 2014 won permission from its regulator for a community charter, allowing it to market itself to Christian organizations in the entire region. It previously had to make separate regulatory applications each time it added a church or Christian group into its fold.
Christian Community has made a habit of smaller mergers in the past, with this being its largest to date.
“This would be the largest merger, but we’ve done six or seven others over the last 20 years or so,” Estridge said.
Christian Community has been in business for 60 years, Estridge said, with two branches near Los Angeles. It has the ability to offer membership to Christian groups nationwide, he said, and primarily serves Protestant churches and organizations.
“We have hundreds of members in Virginia already,” Estridge said.
Entrust was chartered in 1971 and has its lone office at 1801 Dabney Road, just west of Scott’s Addition. It primarily serves Southern Baptist churches and their missionaries all over the world, Estridge said.
Both tap into shared branch networks that allow members to use branches of other credit unions around the country. That coupled with the prevalence of online banking helped fuel the deal, despite the distance between the two sides.